Sorrento

Penniless and tired, we arrived in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula (after a brief visit to Melbourne, where we stayed just long enough to visit the Crown Casino) to start work as waitresses at a members-only sailing club.

The Place

Similarly to the Hughenden job, we'd applied for the positions online, so I spent the entire journey to Sorrento worrying that it'd be a similar experience. My anxiety wasn't helped when we approached the chavvy looking Frankston, but luckily we were just passing through. And I needn't have worried too much. Our first impression of the place was that everyone was very friendly and the sailing club was in a lovely setting, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Sorrento is a popular holiday spot for well-off Victorians, so the town becomes packed with tourists over the Christmas holidays, where hundreds of angst-ridden teenagers make it look like the set of Home & Away.

The People

Nearby Portsea is the richest postcode in Victoria, so unsurprisingly, the clientele in Sorrento's sailing club made for some fascinating people-watching. The women looked like they belonged on the 'The Real Housewives of Orange County' and even the babies were well groomed and well dressed. The children must be among the most privileged in the country. When Tash told me she'd seen a six-year-old with an iPod Touch, I assumed that it belonged to her parents. That was until I saw the pink 'Hello Kitty' cover.

On our first night we were sent downstairs to waitress at a cocktail party for Melbourne's rich and famous. This was a bit of a daunting thought, but luckily I didn't recognise any of the Australian D-list celebrities so I wasn't nervous, and they were all really nice and polite anyway. One notable conversation I overheard was about someone who had the cheek to ask Coldplay for a raise.

When our boss told us that he'd arrange some affordable accommodation for us, we didn't expect to be living with a 78-year-old woman and her very annoying poodle called Lady. It wasn't as bad as it sounds though, as she made us feel comfortable in her home and as she didn't live on a bus route she'd drive us to town and to work herself. From my own experiences, I think it's an accurate generalisation that Australians are a hospitable race - June agreed for us to live in her home with her when she'd never even met us.

The Sights

There's not a great deal to do in Sorrento, other than go shopping, eat out and lie on the beach, but exploring the back beaches is a worthwhile activity. Unlike the calm seas of the sailing clubs, the back beaches are rough and dangerous. Safe swimming is only possible in a couple of spots and even then you have to take into account the tides so you don't get stranded. Watching the waves here was awe-inspiring and made me appreciate the power of the sea, but we didn't visit the back beaches very often because of the huge blood-sucking flies. In fact, the flies in the town centre - although not blood-sucking - were so annoying that however exclusive and picturesque Sorrento is, I wouldn't ever want to live there permanently.

Summary

Despite having a great deal of waitressing experience previously and having worked at the sailing club for nearly a month, Tash and I weren't allowed to wait on tables; our job was to simply run food and collect glasses. Obviously this was boring and frustrating, and we weren't given as many hours as we were promised. Also, our boss turned out to be a spiteful old man with bi-polar disorder, so after a month we left Sorrento to find work in Melbourne.